RE: Why it's a bad idea to "season" your wood by placing it right next to the woodstove . . . and I

The fire marshal told me that a guy in my neighborhood had his supports break that held up his wood pile and the wood landed on the wood stove and caught on fire. Some folks here talk about their flue connector getting to 1000 degrees on occasion. Others mention walking away with the door open. It seems likely according to Murphy's Law.

Dune said:

timlynne said:

Just googled this and came up with a minimum temp of 842 degrees with proper oxygen could start wood to smolder.

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Care to provide a link? To be clear, the science is still out as far as charring temp, since the temp of combustion fro wood lowers, the longer the wood is exposed to heat and drying effects.

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Link www.newton.dep.anl.gov.askasi/env99/env99397.htm.

This is sorta scarey that people who burn wood question this!

I must admit to usually having a couple of splits on the edge of my hearth most evenings when I'm sitting watching television.

I'm leaving a thermometer there this evening to see whether they get hot or just warm.

They are usually there to stop anything that falls out (when loading) rolling off the hearth.

Time for a quick study of my methods, nothing prudish about making sure you're safe

RenovationGeorge said:

oldspark said:

So you know you are a redneck if the fire is on the outside of your wood burner!

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In Soviet Russia, stove burns *you*!

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In Soviet Russia, wood burns stove.

I have experience with this. No, I didn't burn my house down.
For the first couple years, I put wood right up close to the stove for a while before it went into the stove. Wet wood, ice on it, blah, blah. Couple times, even put a piece on top of the stove as an experiment to see if it would dry faster. I left one on a little longer than I should have, and it started smoldering, so I think that if I hadn't taken it off the stove I might have had an "outside the box" experience. Never did it when away from the stove.
Putting the wood within inches of the stove did help with most surface moisture, but had minimal effect on the rest of it.
Things are different now, with the raised hearth and the wood farther away. It's mostly dry now, too, so no need for those fate tempting practices..